Voluntary Simplicity: a netnographic study about the reasons of a social group for adhering to a simple lifestyle

Abstract

The consumerism promoted by the Industrial Revolution, which favored the materialization of the consumer society, has begun to be questioned by a section of the population who started to realize its consequences and the need to establish actions to reverse them. In this context, the anti-consumption phenomenon was established, and a movement was created in search of a simpler life called voluntary simplicity. However, this movement still needs to be explored in studies investigating consumption. Thus, this paper aims to identify and describe the reasons that arouse the interest of individuals in adhering to a simple lifestyle based on a netnographic study with a social group. The cultural entry into this group occurred in the second half of 2023. Their posts and interactions for the past five years were analyzed to understand the group better. The data was collected through archiving and categorized using the coding technique. The interpretation stage allowed us to conclude that the reasons that aroused the participants' interest in adhering to the simple lifestyle are concern about the environmental crisis caused by economic growth, interest in sustainable solutions that minimize anti-consumption, reusing of goods used in everyday life in favor of anti-consumption, being happy through a simple lifestyle, saving financial resources to acquire necessary goods that cause satisfaction and happiness, and improving quality of life.